GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13193, 2 June 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

TRAGIC I N'TERR U lON

Paris, April 19.—M. Legrnudaia." of (111 Municipal Council here* was.- addressing a meeting of electors to-day when otto of them shouted, "Retire; you've got on* . foot in the grave already.'- M. Legrwidais, who was 68 years old, stopped, stuttered a little, and fell ooad on the platform. SEARCH FOR THE DUNMORE. The search' of the fourth cruiser squadron for the missing Cardiff steamer Duttnioie is likely to be a vain otic. it is now over three mouths since the vessel was deserted by her crew m mid-Atlantic. The Dunmore was sighted fairly regularly until recently. The- last report is from the Wilson liner Westlands, the crew of which saw the Dunmore drifting in the track of he Gulf Stream on March 29. The salvage steamer Adventure, of St. John's, Newfoundland, searched for six days in vaiu, and so far the cruiser squadron lias reported nothing, so that there is reason to believe that the Dunmore has found her berth at last. The insurance rate in Lloyd's lias jumped up from 50 guineas to 80* guineas per cent. BEWITCHED DRESSMAKER. Paris, April 19.—A young dressmaker, named Juliette Granechc fired live shots at» a friend of hers, Mine. Lheriteait, a. clairvoyant, yesterday morning after having accubed her of attempting to injure her by sorcery. The two women had been very intimate, and had studied spiritualism together. Mine. Lheriteau had shown her pupil how to bring misfortune upon art enemy. She burned a small piece of wax in the shape of a heart, to represent the soul of the person in question, in the flame of a candle, at the same time muttering incantations. She then blew out- the flame of the caudle, and from that moment the bewitched person would never know a moment's peace. Mile. Graiieehe had suffered a number of misfortunes during the last fortnight, and imagined that her friend had cast tho spell over Iter. Site accused iunie. Lheriteau to her face, and, after a violent quarrel, shot her, wounding her very seriously. FORGER BOMBARDED. Paris, April 19.—The matt Martin, who : barricaded himself in his house at Algiers in- tho endeavour to escape arrest for forgery, was shot yesterday in a fight round the building. He had successfully defied the law for a week, threatening to shoot anybody who approached within a hundred yards. As a. further precaution he placed mines which he could lire from his room by electricity at various points around ; ho' buildings. As the effect upon the native population was mischievous, the Governor received telegraphic instructions from Paris to bombard the house with cannon u neces- ' sary. Yesterday morning Martin tired from one, of the windows on two sentinels, and they replied. Later in the afternoon two guns were trained on the house, and after two blank shots had been tired as a summons to Martin to surrender, 16 melinite shells were directed against the building, and reduced it to ruins. Martin was found dead among the ruins. He had been killed by one of tho shots fired by the sentries in _ the morning. VERY AMERICAN. Strawberries and cream grown together on a plantthis is the remarkable news fare placed before its readers by an Ameri- : can journal, which in charity we shall leave nameless. Mr. Alonzo Murphy, of Morristown, New Jersey, we are told, claims to have achieved this remarkable feat, and ho • hopes to bo . able to furnish the fruit shops with strawberries arid ' cream direct from the hand of nature. Mr. Murphy, being an imaginative farmer, dreamed that he could accomplish this by a judicious crossing of the milkweed anti-the' strawberry. Last autumn ho ' grafted several strawberry plants on the milkweed. One ' grew sturdily close by Mr. Murphy's kitchen range, and was- in full fruitage < when alas! the tiro went out and it succumbed to the cold. " Mr. Murphy said that each strawberry, when examined, was found to contain a quantity of cream varying from a few drops to a teaspoon hi I, 'depending on the size of the berry. He believes h« will have a large "supply ready for the Hummer strawberry season. At' least, the American paper in question declares that lie believes this. THE KAISER'S DIPLOMACY. Baron von Holstein, Privy Councillor to the German Foreign Office, who was lately" granted indefinite leave- of absence, has resigned, and his resignation has been accepted by Ilerr von Tschirschky, the Secretary of ,State for Foreign Affairs, by the Emperor's direction. The resignation.of Baron, von liolstein removes from the diplomatic, •stage a personage who, .since the days of ■ Prince Bismarck, has been rightly credited with having had greater influence, over the direction of Germany's foreign policy than any other State official. Baron von Holstein was Secretary to the Embassy, at 'i Paris when Count von Araim was Ambassador, and >n the disgrace of the latter he became unpopular in Berlin, owing to the belief that he, at Prince Bismarck's bidding, had been instrumental in exposing his chief. Ho never cared to repudiate tho story, and preferred, to retire absolutely from society, and to devote himself to J.he work of the Foreign Office. Baron von Hoi; stein is generally believed to have been the instigation of Germany's warlike attitude towards France last 'summer, and in many quarters the view prevails that he was made the scapegoat, for the difficult position into which that policy brought Germany. MOTOR-CAR ATROCITY. An unknown motorist ran over a man at Norwood Hill, and went on, leaving the victim lying in the road with a broken leg. The injured man, Mr. Ernest Gotterill, crawled along on hands and knees for three miles before he could find assistance. Mr. Cotterili, who resides at The Mtoimt, Stanhill, and is head gamekeeper to Mi. Langton, was proceeding along his round at Norwood Hill, near Charhvood, when a motorcar suddenly came up and- knocked him to the ground. Two of the' wheels running over his left leg broke it in two places just above the ankle. The car continue!'. it« journey, and Gotterill crawled into .V ditch awaiting a passer-by to help hint, home. i>6 one came, however, and th« poor fellow, suffering agonies of pain, •crawled on his hands and knees for nearly a quarter of a, mile to the house of Mr. Pel-" ham. His cries for help aroused the household. Ho was taken in, and Dr. Wakefield having set the injured limb he was i -loved, to his home. Mrs. Cotterili stated that tho * owner or number of the car had not beeu ascertained. "My husband's knees and hands," she added, " wore raw owing to the distance he had to cover before he received any attention. It took him over three hours to crawl from the ditch to Mr. Pelham's house, and he was then so exhausted that he became unconscious for a time." ' GROSS SUPERSTITION. An example of the barbarous supersti* tions which still prevail in certain rural districts of Italy, is afforded by a terrible oc- : currence that has taken place in the village of Marcel)ise, in the province of Tr erona. Elvira lseppi, the handsome daughter of a landed proprietor, had suddenly lost her natural brightness and vivacity of manner, and became a prey to morose thoughts, it - was a'clear case of neurasthenia, but'she and her friends were persuaded that.the " evil eye" had been cast* over her. ft On© Sunday, when the girl's parents had gone to church, she invited to the house an old lady named Cassis, • a pensioned schoolteacher. Signora Cassis, though personally well liked, had, strange to say, the iv>putoticMi of being a witch. • After regaling her visitor with cakes and! wine, the young girl made an excuse to leave, the room, and presently returned with her father's shotgun. Standing m the open doorway, she , fired at Signora Cassis twice, inflicting a slight wound. The poor old lady .fled shrieking with terror, pursued ;• by , the frenzied girl, who struck Iter repeatedly • with r the butt end of tho gun.. While attempting in her fright to scale the low garden wall, Signora Cassis , received another shot, in her neck. Her cries fiually brought assistance, when the girl was found moaning on the floor. Her victim . will probably recover.